Dwiana Hendrawati provides an explanation of her dissertation on the open hearing of the doctoral promotion of Departement of Electrical Engineering ITS

ITS Campus, ITS News– Utilization of wind energy into electrical energy in Indonesia is still limited. Therefore, the utilization of wind energy on a large scale called wind farm or power plant (PLTB) needs to be done effectively to help increase the production of the electricity.

That was the condition that encouraged the doctoral program students of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Dwiana Hendrawati, the study of her dissertation on the reconfiguration of the wind turbine based power firefly algorithm for power enhancement of Bayu power plant (PLTB). Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng who is also ITS rector.

Through this study, Dwiana Hendrawati was declared to graduate as the 128th doctors from Departement of Electrical Engineering ITS with a very satisfactory predicate in the open session of the doctoral promotion held Friday (23/8). The woman who worked as a lecturer at Semarang State Polytechnic (Polines) explained that this research aims to know the design of a PLTB optimization that provides optimum electrical energy using a firefly algorithm.

Dwiana said, nowadays renewable energy needs to be utilized even better. There is an increasing energy need in Indonesia, wind energy can be a good choice. Converting wind into electrical energy will be more optimal on a large scale through this PLTB. This is the obstacle to building the energy source. “Wind energy is less glance because it requires an investment fund and large enough land area,” said the woman who usually called Ana.

Explained by Ana, another constraint of the maximum electrical energy conversion of PLTB itself is the presence of a wake effect. The wind speed reduction that will be experienced by the downstream turbine, which is a turbine that is far from the center of the wind. This affects the overall decrease in PLTB power.

According to Ana, the increase of the PLTB power can be done by optimizing wind farm control optimization, which begins with a wind farm layout optimization. “The placement of effective wind turbine affects not only energy conversion, but also affects the cost of utilization of wind energy,” she said.

Dwiana Hendrawati provides an explanation of her dissertation on the open hearing of the doctoral promotion of Departement of Electrical Engineering ITS.

For that, Ana continued, this PLTB operation and design problem require an optimization algorithm with a dual-purpose function to generate maximum power with minimal cost. Among the methods of optimization algorithms, Firefly algorithm is chosen because it excels in acquiring the optimum global point with dual-purpose function, according to research objectives.

The results of the study conducted by this mother of three succeeded in discovering that the design of PLTB with position staggered or zigzag is more suitable to be applied in Indonesia. This is due to the speed of wind in Indonesia only ranging from three to five meters per second. While the layout is aligned more favorably if applied to an area that extends in the direction of larger wind speeds.

Ana also evacuated, disaster risk of PLTB is very minimal, thus adding positive points in the utilization of wind energy. PLTB is also suitable if it is built in the coastal area because the area has many winds. She hopes the results of this research can be applied in Indonesia. “Moreover, Indonesia has a wide coastline, potential beaches must be utilized well,” she said.

Dwiana Hendrawati (five from the left) and the promoters and open-session examiner in doctoral promotion in the Department of Electrical Engineering ITS

Totok also added that it would be better if there was at least one foreign lecturer who was also present in the implementation of the hearing. “So that the scientific insight of the alumni of the doctoral program in ITS later will be wider,” he said as advice. (aje/rev/ITS Public Relations)